Method of making decorative tissues



Dec. 9, 1952 A W- BOESE 2,620,853

METHOD OF MAKING DECORATIVE TISSUES Filed Oct. 18, 1946 Patented Dec. 9, 1952 UNITED STATES FHCE METHOD F MAKING DECORATIVE TISSUES Alvin W. Boese, White Bear Township; Ramsey carded tissue.

County, Minn., assignorY to Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Company, St; Paul, Minn., a

corporation of Delaware Application October 18, 1946, Serial'No. 704,145

(Cl. d-33) 4 Claims.

IThis.1lnvention yrelates r to decorative `tissue ...sheeting adapted'for wrapping gift packages and for other'purposes.

`More particularly, it relates to decorative tisaV color appearance differing from that of the brous body. These necks are thus located Within the ber mesh and are held in place by long fibers which extend over each face of each iieck,

plicity of covering fibers.

Effective use can be made of non-fibrous films vadapted to be disintegrated into fiecks or akes, suchas cellulosic films (illustrated by cellophane and by cellulose acetate films), and metal foils (illustrated by aluminum foil and tin foil). Use can also be made of papers. A further example is a broustissue of the character of the body tissue, but differing in color appearance, and which has been disintegrated into small bits which have been introduced into the body tissue.

Theecks should have a color appearance different from that of the tissue body in order to provide a variegated effect. Thus, where cellulosic films, papers, or tissues are used in making the fiecks, use can be made of those which have been pigmented, dyed or printed to provide the desired color effect. The necks need not all be of thesame color nor made of the same material,

The tissue can be-employed. Thus there are endless possibilities for securing novelties.

A,Ifhavediscovered.that these decorative flecks vcan; -befreadilyy formed,A .and scattered and posii, tionedA-withinf the tissue web,1in conjunction with :the f'cardingg procedure employed in making the The carded/tissue. is vformed .by

Lcardingsynthetic textile-'fibers in a cardingimanchine. By introducing 'the neck-forming sheet fmaterialalong-with thefbersgit is found .that

- Atheteeth of the carding machine will disintegrate itY into: appropriate flecksfand will causesfiecks *to be distributed Within the'ber mesh asheretofore indicated.

The fibers of .thetissue web canbe caused to become interbonded at* fiber crossing-,points'by employing, for example; fibers which. have latent adhesive properties adapted'to loe-activatedv by Vheat or by a solvent. The'fibers need not be enltirelyof this' type;` butV preferably at least about one-half should be; the remainder in suchcase being mechanically imprisoned in the web owing as distinguished from flecks adhered to a suryto the fact that 'each ber crosses-over andunder Vface of a tissue. AThe open mesh arrangement a plurality of kother fibers. The tissue may be of fibers in the tissue permits the fiecks to be compacted by a pressing so as to have a 'nonreadily visible and they make for a variegated uffy'paper-like finished appearance. appearance. 20 The lflong synthetic textile fibers result in a The flecks may' be madefrom any suitable Ipaper-likel tissue having afvery deluxe appear- 'sheet material adapted to be distintegrated into ance, quite unlike Ordinary tissue pap1`S The flecks and thin enough to be contained in the variegated appearance resulting from the colored tissue body. The-'decks should be large enough `flecks makes -possible gift wrapping sheeting in area'so that'each is imprisoned by a multi- 25 which yis not onlybeautiful in appearance but -which hasa novel appearance quite unlike anything previously available.

IWaterproof textile fibers (such as cellulose acetate-bers) may Nbe employed to produce wrapping-tissues having a high intrinsicwetstrength, which-isl a valuable feature making for eifective oral wraps -which maintain proper strength evenwhenf dampened by moist flowers.

Thenature-and-features of the invention `Will be further indicated in connection with the followingdescription ofthe drawings and of an illustrative method of making the -novel product. In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic elevation view showing the arrangement of rolls in an illustrative apparatus for forming a carded fiber web,A containing a scattered multiplicity of decorative flecks, into a unified wrapping tissue. This .apparatus provides suitable heatingand soft-pressing for a web composed of a mixture of .thermoplastic andxnon-thermoplastic textile fibers.

Fig 2 is a magnified and diagrammatic crosssectional and perspective view of a portion of tissue sheeting l5 showingthe location of an illustrative intralaminated decorative eck I6, imprisoned by long intermeshed fibers extending over each face.

In Fig. 1,;the carded fiber web is shown enter- `ing the-apparatus. vThe'cardingma'chine is not machines are well know-n. y*By a4 cardingmachine is meant not only those which are technically termed carding machines, but also garnett machines which operate to form carded webs. The carding procedure straightens out the fibers and tends to make them roughly parallel and oriented in a direction lengthwise of the fiber web which is formed. The fibers in the carded web are not of course fully straight, fully oriented and fully parallel, but extend diagonally, curl, and pass over 4and under each other, in a heterogeneous fashion and to an extent which interlaces and intermeshes them and causes each fiber to be crossed by numerous other bers Aalong its length. I have satisfactorily employed a garnett machine of st-andard type in which the working rolls have 22 teeth per inch, the finishing cylinder has 24 teeth per inch, and the finishing dofi'ers have 28 teeth per inch.

The neck-forming sheet material (such as aluminum foil) may be fed into the carding machine with the entering fibers at the feed apron, and will be disintegrated into small pieces or flecks in passing through the toothed cylinders and simultaneously will be properly scattered `and imprisoned, Vand in parallel relation to the faces of the web, without crumpling or balling. It is possible to feed in the neck-forming sheet material at any cylinder of the machine, and the size of the flecks depends upon the number of cylinders utilized. The neck-forming sheet material may be introduced in the form of individual sheets, or in the form of continuous strips or sheeting unwound from rolls. The quantity of flock-forming sheet material required, depends upon the ratio of total neck-area in the product.

An illustrative fiber composition is one consisting (by weight) of 70% plasticized staple cellulose acetate fibers of 3 denier size and 1% inch length, and 30% staple viscose fibers of 3 denier size and 1% inch length. The acetate bers are thermoplastic. Before c-arding, the fibers are passed through a textile picker to blend the mixture and open the fibers.

In the garnett machine which I have employed,

the resultant carded fiber web of such a ber f mixture has a ream weight of about pounds (exclusive of the flecks), by which is meant the weight of 320 square yards, and when formed into a single ply finished tissue (as hereinafter described) provides a sheeting having a caliper thickness of labout 2.5 mils, a lengthwise tensile strength of about 1.8 pounds per inch width, and a cross-wise tensile strength of about 0.5 pound per inch width. The wet strength is about 65% of the dry strength.

Reference is now made to Fig. 1, and a description will be given of finishing the carded fiber web, containing flecks, of the character above indicated, containing '70% thermoplastic acetate fibers and 30% non-thermoplastic viscose fibers.

Heating of the web is produced by a polished steel drum I, rotated about a horizontal axis by an electric motor (not shown). The drum rotates in a clockwise direction in this view. This drum has a diameter of about 16 inches and a length of `about 31 inches. It is heated by electric heating elements mounted on a xed spider or frame (not shown) located within the drum, but may of course be heated in any other suitable m-anner.

Pressing of the fiber web against the heating drum is produced by the soft rolls 2 and 3 which bear against the drum surface and are free to turn. Roll 2 is located so that it contacts the heating drum near its top, and roll 3 is spaced beyond, about one-fourth of the distance around the drum. 'I'hese pressing rolls are each made of a light sheet-metal roll having a dia-meter of 5 inches upon which is wound heavy creped Kraft towelling paper to form a soft and resilient base layer approximately 1/8 inch thick, land upon this is wound four turns of finely woven glass cloth having a smooth type surface, forming a cloth layer approximately 1A; inch thick. The cloth is wound on in a clockwise direction and the outer end is left free so as to trail through the nip, preventing wrinkling. The turns of cloth hold t0- gether so that this end does not nap. The glass cloth provides -a flexible surface which will not stick to the cellulose-acetate ber web.

The pressing rolls are kept in contact with the heating drum by their weight, and the pressure due to the weight of a roll can be increased by adjustable springs at each end (not shown), the total being less than 10 lbs. per inch Width of the web. The pressure is adjusted so as to be light enough to produce the type of fiber interbonding herein described. In operation the softness of the roll results in a peripheral contact distance of about 1A; inch. An idea of the softness of the pressing operation can be gained from the fact that a large diameter pencil lead (0.085 inch diameter), mounted by means of adhesive tape on a piece of paper, can be passed through the nip without damage to the lead (the lead being parallel to the axis of the roll). A wooden dowel of 0.160 inch diameter can be passed through the nip. This light-pressure soft-roll pressing action is entirely different from the pressure effect proy duced by the calenders used in textile mills, which have hard rolls forming the nips through which sheet material is passed.

The carded fiber web 4 is shown coming from a carding or garnett machine to the present apparatus where it is drawn in at the nip between the heating drum I and the firstV pressing roll 2. where it is subjected to a first pressing to compact the fibers, and to heating in contact with the polished surface of the heating drum. The web travels around on the surface of the rotating heating drum to and through the nip between the heating drum and the second pressing roll 3, by which time the thermoplastic fibers will all have been softened suiiiciently to insure proper interbonding. During the travel interval between the nips, the web is thus subjected to heating under slight tension but without being pressed. This arrangement holds the web in smooth contact with the heating drum surface and prevents wrinkling or distortion during the forming of the tissue product.

The drawing shows an arrangement by which the carded web is simultaneously laminated to a previously formed single ply tissue to form a tissue product of double thickness and ream weight (two ply). A roll of previously made single ply tissue 5 is mounted on a freely turning mandrel 6 mounted above and to the back of the heating drum. This tissue is drawn forward and passes down around the freely turning guide roll l, which is located directly above the first pressing roll 2, and then passes vertically downward to and around the roll 2 and enters the nip in contact with the underlying carded fiber web 4, and travels in contact with the latter. The heating and pressing results in the bottom thermoplastic bers of tissue 5 interbonding with the top bers of the carded web 4, so that the two sheets become laminated together into an integral twofplytissue. Thiszproce :the '.'two-:ply :tissue :tof: form a i three-.plyftssue paper .by lamination to a fresh Acarded vfiber web,

s. can. berepeated by.using and soxon. this `way a relativelythick :tissue 'can bebuilt up. This procedure has theadvantage'thatonlyaJthin ycarded fiberfweb is subjected to the. initial operation of interbonding ythe fibers in forming itinto a unied tissue, thus gaining the benefit of a more uniform temperatureand pressure throughout its thickness duri ying"`this'step. 'The previously formed ytissue is subjectedY to a desirably lower temperature vdue tothe'insulating actionv of theber Web Which .separates-itfrom the heating drum. However, :a'tissue of several plies thickness can be directly ",made by! .feeding in severalrcarded'ber webs at fonce.

passedthrough the. nipgoffthe second pressing roll 3, is drawn up and around the latter r'oll and is thus separated from thesurface of the heating drum. It then passes to and around a freelyturning Wood guide roll 8, located above and forvwardly of the pressing roll. It then is drawn back tozand Vbetweenthe nip of a pair of steel pull rolls Sand .I, which are driven in syn-chronism withthe rotating heating drum by means of a chain drive (not shown) connected to the motor which drives the heating drum. The upper roll 9 is surfaced with heavy paper so as to exert greater traction on the web. These pull rolls draw the web under tension from the second pressing roll, which results in holding it smooth while cooling down. The fully formed tissue product then goes to the wind-up roll Il where it is wound on a core. The wind-up roll is driven by the rotating pull rolls through a slip-belt drive (not shown) which keeps it rotating at the correct speed as the tissue is wound up.

Stripping of the bonded web from the heating drum is facilitated by the air-jet I2, which is a horizontal tube having a slit orifice and is located behind the nip between the second pressing roll 3 and the heating drum I, so as to direct a jet of compressed air toward the nip.

The temperature of the heating drum to be employed will depend on the softening temperature of the thermoplastic bers of the web, and should be high enough to cause the desired interbonding with the use of only a light pressing action, but not so high as to melt or iiatten out these fibers at their crossing points or to cause the non-thermoplastic fibers (if present) to cut into the thermoplastic fibers. In the case of the preferred tissue embodiment, previously described, comprised of plasticized -cellulose acetate fibers and viscose fibers, it has been found in practice that the surface temperature of the heating drum should be in the range of about S40-390 F.

The foregoing apparatus has been operated successfully at a speed such that the periphery of the heating drum, and the web, move at a rate of 55 feet per minute, thus producing the tissue product at the rate of 1100 yards per hour in a web 26 inches wide. The rolls of tissue sheeting can be trimmed in a slitting machine to produce finished sheeting having a uniform width of 24 inches, which may be furnished to the trade in rolls of any desired length. 'I'his tissue web can be dyed for producing a colored tissue. The tissue webmaybe. converted by slittingainto sheeting of narrower width, or may." be' cutinto: sheets. of

^ desired. size.

The `size 'ofY the, decorative flecksmay vary considerably,.and when'formed by the cardingzprocedureheretofore' described, will depend in'part upon t'the' ttlOeiofA fleck-forming sheet material 'employed Themlatter should'be disintegratable by the carding teeth, but should not be friable or brittle. I have found that aluminum foil, of say. 1.5 mils' thickness, results in very attractive iiecks. These have an irregular outline and differ greatly in shape so as toproduce' a pleasing variety, vvarying from about 1l.; inch. in longest `dimension to about 1A, inch. A.hardenished faluminum foil resultsiniiecks which havezarelatively fiat surface. .A soft-finished foilzproduces lecks which are flat but have'a somewhat crinkled surface.

A 'veryattractive ecking is .produced by employing as Vthe'flock-forming sheeting ar tissue-of `the same typeasthe product (except for flecking), whichhas been previously made as described in connection with Fig. 1, having dyed fibers.

Thus a single iplyltissue formed of green-dyed bers can be introduced into the carding machine along with non-'dyed vfree fibers, to result in a white tissue containing green fleck areas. Or two or more differently.coloredtissues can be introduced to result in iiecks of differing color (for example, green and red'results in an attractive Wrapping tissue for Christmas gifts). This type of Heck-forming tissue, being formed of a carded web of long fibers mainly running in the same general direction, tends to be disintegrated into irregular flecks which are relatively long and narrow (for example, about 1/2 to 3A inch in length and about le inch wide). These become bent and curved in being carded into the tissue web and result in a great variety of flecks, producing an interesting variegated appearance. Foil iiecks can be also introduced to still further increase the variegated effect. These tissue iiecks become autogeneously interbonded with the body fibers of the tissue, since both sets of fibers include thermoplastic fibers.

In the case of multi-ply tissue sheeting, one of the plies may contain decorative fiecks and the remainder need not. Owing to the translucency of each tissue ply, the decorative effect of the iiecks will be modified, but not lost, when a necked ply is covered by a non-iiecked ply. Two or more plies which are each flecked in different manners may be combined to form a multiply tissue having a novel appearance.

The translucency of the tissue is indicated by the fact that a three-ply tissue of uncolored fibers, having a ream weight of about 30 pounds, can be placed over a typewritten page and the writing can be read without difficulty. The ream weight should not exceed 60 pounds; and a ream weight not exceeding 30 pounds is sufficient and is preferable for most decorative uses of the tissue, and for package wrapping tissues. For general gift Wrapping purposes, a two-ply tissue having a ream weight of about 20 pounds is most suitable; although eective use can be made of sheets of single ply tissues, especially when backed by a sheet of regular tissue paper or other Wrapping paper.

Attractive tying ribbons for gift packages can be made by slitting two-ply lecked tissue sheeting into narrow widths and winding into rolls of desired length.

The decorative tissue sheeting has proved highly effective for use in decorating store windows and show cases, due to its unusual and attractive appearance, draping qualities, resiliency, and resistance to Wrinkling and creasing. These properties are not adversely affected by the necks. Another use is in making greeting cards. A further use is in decorating womens hats.

Having described various embodiments of my invention, for purposes of illustration rather than limitation, what I claim is as follows:

1. In the making of decorative tissue sheeting, the step of simultaneously carding a combination of free textile bers, having a length of at least approximately one inch, and decorative deckforming sheet material, thereby producing scattered decorative ecks Within a single carded ber web.

2. In a method of making decorative tissue sheeting, the steps of carding together a mixture of decorative neck-forming sheet material with a mixture of free thermoplastic staple cellulose acetate bers and staple viscose bers, said fibers having a length of at least approximately one inch and the proportion of cellulose acetate fibers ranging from about one-half to about 70% of the ber mixture, thereby forming a carded lamina containing decorative iiecks distributed within the body of a, fiber mesh of interlaced fibers, and thereafter heating and soft-pressing the carded lamina to compact the bers and autogeneously interbond the cellulose acetate fibers at their crossing points without loss of continuity, no

extraneous binder or adhesive material being employed, thereby unifying the nber mesh and imprisoning the intralaminated flecks, said flecks being visible through the overlying fibers.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein neck-forming metal foil is employed and is disintegrated by the ber-carding operation to form decorative foil-necks distributed within the carded ber lamina.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein neck-forming tissue sheeting is employed and is disintegrated by the ber-carding operation to form decorative tissue-necks distributed within the carded ber lamina, said tissue sheeting including thermoplastic staple cellulose acetate fibers adapted to autogeneously interbond with the other cellulose acetate bers of the carded lamina when the latter is subjected to heating and soft-pressing.

ALVIN W. BOESE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,122,473 Hurst July 5, 1938 2,277,049 Reed Mar, 24, 1942 2,357,392 Francis Sept. 5, 1944 2,430,868 Francis Nov. 18, 1947 

